Analysis: Record gold haul by Indian wrestlers

First country to win 10 gold in wrestling

It turned out to be a record haul for India when Sushil Kumar clinched the gold in wrestling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in Delhi, on Sunday.

Sushil won the 10th gold medal for the hosts in the discipline as India entered the record book as the first country to win ten golds in wrestling at a single Commonwealth Games.

And, interestingly, it happened on the 10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year in the new decade.

A huge crowd thronged the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex to watch their favourite wrestler and Sushil didn't let them down. The 27-year-old put up a dominant display of power and quick reflexs to win the gold medal without dropping a single point in the entire tournament.

Won three gold on the opening day itself

The Indian wrestlers were in command right from the start as they won three gold medals to make a clean sweep on the opening day of the sport.

Ravinder Singh pinned down England's Terence Christopher in the second period, after taking a convincing 7-0 lead, to win the Greco-Roman 60-kg gold medal.

In the very next bout, Sanjay edged past South Africa's Richard Brian 1-0 in the 74-kg Greco-Roman category to earn India's second gold medal from the discipline.

That was followed by Anil Kumar beating Hassene Fkiri of Australia 3-0 in the 96-kg Greco-Roman event, making it three out of the three gold medals decided on the second day of the Games.Rajender Kumar bagged the fourth medal in wrestling in the Greco-Roman style.

India finally had 10 gold, five silver and four bronze medals

There were other medals too in wrestling with the Kumar trio of Manoj, Anuj and Joginder losing their title bouts to settle for silver.

In the women's Nirmala Devi took silver in the 48-kg freestyle and Babita Kumar in the 51-kg.

Sunil Kumar (66-kg Greco-Roman), Dharmender Dalal (120-kg Greco-Roman), Anil Kumar (66-kg freestyle) and Suman Kundu in the women's 63-kg freestyle also came up with a good showing, but had to settle for bronze.

With a haul of 10 gold, five silver and four bronze medals, it turned out to be a successful campaign for India in Delhi.

And now the entire country is hoping they can replicate the showing at the forthcoming Asian Games.